page_title: M-50 (Michigan highway)
section_title: Jackson to Monroe
hierarchical_section_title: M-50 (Michigan highway) / Route description / Jackson to Monroe
caption_attribution_description: English: Intersecton of M-50 and US 23, Dundee, Michigan
context_page_description: M-50 is a state trunkline highway in the US state of Michigan. Although designated as an east–west highway, it is nearly a diagonal northwest–southeast route. The western terminus is at exit 52 along Interstate 96 near Alto a few miles east of the metro Grand Rapids area, and its eastern terminus is in downtown Monroe at US Highway 24. In between the trunkline runs through seven counties of the southern part of the Lower Peninsula mostly through rural farm fields and small communities. The highway also runs through downtown Jackson to connect between two freeway sections of US 127. In the Irish Hills area of the state southeast of Jackson, M-50 runs next to Michigan International Speedway.
  Dating back to the early days of the state highway system, M-50 was first signed in the southeastern corner of the state in 1919. During the 1920s, the highway was extended to the Grand Rapids area and beyond to Lake Michigan, making it a trans-peninsular route connecting that Great Lake with Lake Erie. A rerouting of highways including M-50 through Grand Rapids in the 1950s created Business M-50, a business loop through that city that lasted for eight years.
context_section_description: In downtown Jackson, Michigan Avenue continues into downtown while M-50 is routed around the city center along paired one-way streets. Washington Street carries eastbound traffic and the Louis Glick Highway. On the east side of downtown, the roads merge near the Jackson Amtrak station and a junction with M-106 on Cooper Street, where M-50 turns south and then southeast as Brooklyn Road. On the south side of Jackson, M-50 and US 127 meet up once again just east of Vandercook Lake. M-50 follows the US 127 freeway through a pair of conjoined partial interchanges before M-50 heads east away from Vandercook Lake.
  The trunkline then heads southeast to Napoleon, where the road then turns south and heads towards Brooklyn, part of the Irish Hills area of Lenawee County, a region known for its scenery. The road serves as main street for downtown Brooklyn as well as the primary thoroughfare for drivers headed to Michigan International Speedway. M-50 curves around the north and east side of the race track before intersecting US 12 in Cambridge Junction. After crossing US 12, the road passes between several lakes of the Irish Hills area including Washington, Little Stony and Marrs lakes before continuing on its southeasterly journey towards Tecumseh.
  After leaving the Brooklyn area, the road returns to a rural environment as it cuts through agricultural fields. Before passing through Tipton, M-50 passes the entrance to Hidden Lake Gardens, a botanical garden and arboretum operated by Michigan State University. After passing Hidden Lake, the road intersects M-52 and continues into Tecumseh. Known as Chicago Boulevard, the road serves as the main route through the city. After leaving Tecumseh, the highway passes through the communities of Ridgeway and Britton before leaving Lenawee County.
  M-50 begins the final leg of its journey, as it crosses into Monroe county, passing through land that is mostly fields. Prior to reaching its interchange with US 23, the highway passes to the south of Cabela's, a 225,000-square-foot (20,900 m²) outdoor sports retailer in Dundee. After leaving town, the trunkline continues to the southeast, running to the south of the River Raisin, through rural areas as South Custer Road before entering the outskirts of Monroe where it finally ends its journey at a junction with US 24 (Telegraph Road) a few miles inland from Lake Erie.
  M-50 is maintained by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) like other state highways in Michigan. As a part of these maintenance responsibilities, the department tracks the volume of traffic that uses the roadways under its jurisdiction. These volumes are expressed using a metric called annual average daily traffic, which is a statistical calculation of the average daily number of vehicles on a segment of roadway. MDOT's surveys in 2011 showed that the highest traffic levels along M-50 were the 25,770 vehicles daily south of the Springport Road interchange in the Jackson area; the lowest counts were the 2,055 vehicles per day south of the M-99 concurrency. The only sections of M-50 that have been listed on the National Highway System (NHS) are the two US 127 concurrencies in the Jackson area and the connection between them through downtown. The NHS is a network of roads important to the country's economy, defense, and mobility.
caption: Intersection of M-50 and US 23, Dundee, on M-50 facing west
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